medical emergency. actress carrie fisher, famous as princess leia in "star wars" suffers a heart attack on a plane. the new details we've just learned about her condition. survival story. a driver runs off the road without anyone seeing him. he spent 12 hours trapped. how police were finally able to track him down. and tracking rain. a wet start for the holiday weekend. find out when it will clear up with your nbc10 first alert neighborhood forecast. >> announcer: nbc10 breaking news. breaking right now, a strange smell is making people sick in center city, philadelphia. nbc10 has received numerous calls from people reporting a bad sulfur smell. nbc10's drew smith live in center city. drew, what can you tell us?

>> reporter: well, jim, we are actually on south street right now, and we came from our station up at city avenue. we could tell as we were driving down 76th toward this location that the smell started to get stronger. we do know that right now crews are responding to 3,100 passyunk avenue where they have a facility, philadelphia gas works facility. but we do have information to tell you from philadelphia gas works. they don't believe this is a gas leak, though we can tell you it is an acrid, pungent smell that almost everybody is smelling in the city right now. they're calling the fire department. they're calling pgw, and they're calling our newsroom to tell us about this right now. right now we do know that the pgw does not believe it's a gas leak because they've been testing the air. they don't find elevated levels of natural gas. right now the hunt is on to figure out where this is happening. in fact, the fire department had stopped dispatching their crews because they're getting so many calls because they can't find the leak right now. but we can tell you that they are calling the refineries, the factories, the plants to try to figure out if somebody is having

a problem right now. but right now we can tell you that there is not a gas situation happening in the city. we can tell you standing here on south street that is a pungent smell. it smells like rotten eggs, and a lot of people are smelling it inside their homes. we're going to stay on this. we'll let you know what they do find as they continue this investigation into the night. live in center city, i'm drew smith, nbc10 news. >> drew, anything new, be sure to let us know. to other news now, christmas eve and hanukkah both tomorrow, and tonight there are last-minute preparations all over our area. we have live team coverage from the shopping to the travel rush, but we begin with nbc10 first alert chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz. you're tracking some rain for part of the holiday weekend? >> yeah, and a lot of people are going to be seeing it when they get up in the morning. on the radar it looks actually worse than it is. you can see this area of snow and rain. that's not reaching the ground. that's not the real stuff. the real stuff is back here in ohio and kentucky and indiana.

it's a pretty significant area, and it's moving right in our direction. so there's just no doubt that it is coming in here, and it's coming in before many of you get up. it could start off as a little bit of snow or a mixture in the poconos, but that's brief. and even in the poconos, it's going to change over to rain. you can see the rain getting heavier, especially in new jersey and delaware during the mid-morning. i'll let you know when this ends and about the rest of the weekend in a few minutes. in the meantime, people are shoulder to shoulder in malls all over our area. look at this crowd. stores filled with people trying to do their last-minute holiday shopping. nbc10's keith jones is live at the cherry hill mall, which was open for 15 hours today. a lot of shopping there, keith. >> reporter: oh, no question about it. there are a ton of people inside, and the mall officially just closed. fake a look behind me. the parking lot, to some extent, is still pretty full, which means there are people inside looking to get those deals right

before christmas. and it also means their loved ones are patiently waiting for them. dipping, dancing, dodging people. hundreds of them while bored loved ones, mostly husbands and boyfriends, wait. >> how long have you been waiting. >> hours. >> he's tired, clutching bags in both hands with bags under his eyes. >> definitely tired. definitely. tired of waiting in these lines and everything. that's why i'm out here. >> reporter: one of the quickest ways to show you how crowded this mall is, is to check these couches. excuse me, sir. were you sleeping? >> how long have you been waiting. >> two hours. >> he sits among plenty of others, too exhausted to tread the sea of shoppers. >> oh, my god. makeup, clothing, you know how it is. party before christmas. oh, my god. >> are all these things on the list, or do you think she's just going off the radar right now? >> off the radar.

>> reporter: finally his wife arrives. other families like the sugarmans dressed in their craziest christmas clothing live for this. >> people are running around. the streets are crowded. the mall is crowded. stores, it's nuts. >> you got to be here for the season, you know. if you're going to be in the lines, may as well have fun with it. >> reporter: we're back out live right now. the cars are starting to line up as they leave the mall. hopefully they have the same attitude as the sugarmans inside, or at least their comforted by the fact they've finished off their christmas shopping. maybe they haven't. maybe they're going to wait until tomorrow to finish it off in true procrastination style. i can say that because i need to do it as well. for now we are live here at the cherry hill mall. keith jones, nbc10 news. >> that's because you've been working too hard, keith. >> of course. the holiday travel rush. this year more people could be heading out of town than ever before. more than a million people will be traveling in the philadelphia

area alone. whether you're hitting the road or flying to your destination, we've got you covered. nbc10's aundrea cline-thomas live at philadelphia international airport. how busy has it been there, aundrea? >> reporter: just take a look. flights are still coming in. earlier this evening when we arrived, it was so busy at the airport, it took us about 20 minutes to get to backage claim. but so many families are leaving, thinking that the wait is definitely worth it. at arrivals, the excitement is mounting. >> i don't even have words for it. i'm just -- inside. i'm happy. i'm excited. >> reporter: each time the door opens, suzy is hoping her son and daughter-in-law are next to walk through. >> i'm ready for christmas. this will be our first christmas together in about nine years. >> reporter: today begins the holiday rush at philadelphia's international airport. it's expected to last until january 2nd. >> my plane leaves at 7:30, and so i wanted to get here about

5:00 really, you know, just in case there's a snare up there with the security and traffic. >> reporter: the crowds ebbed and flowed the entire day from check-in to baggage claim and pickup. an hour delay because mechanical issues capped off months of waiting for ted and kathy charles. >> my heart feels good. >> reporter: their son is in the air force and is training in texas. >> it feels really good. kind of surreal right now because there were some points where it felt like i was never going to get home. >> reporter: as for suzy vandenberg, her moment had also come. hugs are not in short supply at gate d arrivals. for many families, this is where their holiday can begin. >> feeling good to have him home and his three brothers too. i'm looking forward to having them all home for christmas. it will be a nice holiday. >> reporter: it's so nice. and to maintain that joy, it's really important, again, i can't stress enough to get here with plenty of time. about two hours early.

again, those delays may not be at the security line. they may be just to get to the terminal. reporting live from the airport, aundrea cline-thomas, nbc10 news. >> safe travels to all of them, aundrea. not everyone is taking to the skies to get to their destination during this holiday travel rush. university city was crowded with bolt and megabus passengers tonight. at 30th street station, we spoke to a woman dealing with a delay catching her train to florida. >> i come at 9:30 to catch the train at 10:00, got here at 2:00, and we've been sitting here ever since. >> well, you can also expect a lot of cars on the roads this holiday weekend. triple-a says travelers are taking advantage of lower gas prices. new details at this hour on carrie fisher's heart attack. tonight the actress remains in the intensive care unit at a los angeles hospital. that's according to her brother. fisher had the heart attack on a

flight from london to l.a. today. the 60-year-old actress has starred in movies like the blues brothers and when harry met sally. but of course she's most famous for her role as princess leia in the "star wars" movies. she's also considered hollywood royalty. her parents are debbie reynolds and the late singer, eddie fisher. new at 11:00, a man is dead after slamming into a septa transit bus on his motorcycle. it happened around 5:30 near bridge and penn streets in philadelphia's frankfort section. septa says no one on the bus was hurt. the victim has not been identified. tonight a bucks county mother is out of jail just a day after being named a person of interest in her daughter's death. sara packer was arrested for misleading investigators and child endangerment. her 14-year-old daughter grace's body was found dismembered in luzerne county in october. her mother reported her missing in july, but investigators say she was not cooperative, and it took months to identify the body. sources tell nbc10 sara packer

also worked in social services in northampton county. the manhunt is over tonight for the suspected truck driver who plowed into a berlin christmas market. police say two officers in milan, italy, noticed anis amri acting suspiciously and approached him early this morning. that's when amri shot one of the officers, and they returned fire, killing him. 12 people were killed and dozens others injured during the attack on monday in berlin. the u.s. making a rare decision to not back israel in a controversial u.n. vote today. america abstained from voting as the united nations security council passed a resolution demanding israel stop building settlements on occupied palestinian territory. the israelis and president-elect trump had called on the u.s. to veto the measure. mr. trump went on to tweet that things will be different with the united nations after his inauguration. let it be an arms race. that's what president-elect trump told msnbc off camera today, putting russia and other

countries on notice. mr. trump insisted that the u.s. will surpass its rivals and, quote, outlast them all, end quote, in a push for global weapons dominance. this just a day after he called for expanding america's nuclear capabilities while russian president vladimir putin ruled out an arms race today, he boasted about the strength of russia's nuclear arsenal. up next, a ups driver shot while making deliveries during the holiday rush. the latest on the search for the shooter. plus -- >> as long as you got something to fight for, don't ever give up. >> a survival story. a man runs off the road and lies there trapped. what it took for someone to finally come to his rescue. glen. >> i'm tracking rain for part of the holiday weekend. i'll tell you when it's going to move out and what you can expect for new year's eve. my nbc10 first alert neighborhood forecast is coming up.

a ups driver shot while he was out making deliveries. tonight police are trying to figure out who opened fire and why. the shooting happened this afternoon a day before christmas eve during the height of the holiday shipping rush. nbc10's drew smith has the latest from chester as that driver recovers tonight. >> reporter: a 13-year veteran of getting packages to your doorstep, especially in this holiday gift crunch time, made a delivery at this rite aid in chester before pulling onto highland avenue. >> crazy stuff goes down around here. >> reporter: we're told the driver stopped to let a man cross the street. then he heard a bang. thinking it was just the truck, he kept driving, taking a little time to register his shoulder was hit. >> you could see the bullet et sitting in the jacket, the guy's coat that was on the ground. >> reporter: he pulled into this ford dealership where ambulances and police cars get serviced. an emt was right there to help. >> i pray that he has a speedy recovery and can return home with his family on christmas.

>> reporter: the driver will be okay, but for neighbors, it's another reminder of how dangerous this area is. >> he's out here bringing packages for us and make sure that our stuff get here, and somebody just shooting. it doesn't make no sense. >> reporter: we saw another worker moving some supplies here, escorted by armed security. police haven't found the shooter and aren't sure what the motive was. but other drivers are worried about working here. >> i got to watch my back 24/7. it could be me next. i could be the next one shot. >> reporter: doctors were taking care of that driver here. ups made sure to get another crew to pick up those holiday packages and deliver them out to families in this area tonight. at chester crozier medical center, drew smith, nbc10 news. trapped but never giving up. a pennsylvania man speaks out about surviving 12 hours in the cold after a crash. on saturday, brian smith lost control of his suv, causing it to roll over into an embankment in plains township. the 52-year-old says his cell

phone was thrown from the vehicle, but he could still hear it ringing just feet away. a trooper used the phone's gps to finally track him down. a dozen hours later. smith says he never gave up hope. >> my family never gave up on me. i knew they wouldn't. >> brian broke his ribs and an ankle but says he's just happy to be alive. the rockettes are set to perform at president-elect donald trump's inauguration, but not all of the dancers are kicking up their heels in excitement. some have taken to social media to react. one rockette posted on instagram that after finding out the news,some rockettes were performing with tears in their eyes and heavy hearts. another rockette who wanted to remain anonymous spoke to nbc new york's ray vee a da about why some of the dancers feel this way. >> i think a lot of women are worried that because of the

things that have been said from him that we would be sending the wrong message. >> the company that employs the dancer says their appearance at the inauguration is voluntary but claims they had more rockettes that wanted to perform than spots available. ho, ho, ho, and way to go. santa claus has taken off from his north pole headquarters as he gets ready to deliver a merry christmas to the world. we're going to show you video of santa leaving his office this morning for the ride over to his barn to assemble his full reindeer team. as per tradition, he has reportedly assign the rudolph to lead the way. he'll be assisted by his cousin, dasher, who is known to be the fastest reindeer and the one who helps speed up the rest of the team. beautiful sight there, glenn. even if it's raining when he has to make the deliveries here, that's not going to be a problem. >> the rain will be gone by then. we'll have a nice flow from the

north pole bringing in some cooler air eventually. here in our ski areas, they're going to get a little bit of snow mixed in with a little wintry mix early in the morning, but it's going to change to light rain. it's not going to be a big deal for them, and they're going to be able to make snow as early as tomorrow night. in the lehigh valley and burkes county, we're seeing a lot of temperatures just above the freezing mark. reading is 35, but americastown, 32, macungie, 35. whitehall, 34. bethlehem, 36. easton, 35. we'll keep monitoring those temperatures. they really haven't been dropping very much, and the precipitation, this part not reaching the ground. this part is. by the time this gets here, it may be just warm enough in the atmosphere so it's just rain. as you can see the close-up here, by 6:00 a.m., the poconos perhaps getting a little bit of snow. but see how brief this is. by 7:30 and 8:00, it's already changing over to rain. and by 11:00 a.m., it's already

out of that area. the rest of the region sees it coming in early in the morning. it's a solid-area rain. it means every gets it. it means it's a steady rain. we get hours of it. here's 10:00 a.m., and it's still raining. but shuts off like that. and in many cases, around noon or even before noon, then the temperatures go up as the sun comes out. how much rain? a significant amount, but nobody is going to be seeing any flooding during the day. and like i said, once that moves out, we're in really good shape for the rest of the weekend unless you want a white christmas because you're not going to get that. you can see by midnight tomorrow night, temperatures at or above freezing. it's going to be clearing. christmas day is looking beautiful. sunshine all day. temperatures getting well into the 40s if not near 50 degrees. but it's a different story for new year's. colder air coming in. temperatures may get into the

upper 20s by evening. but it does look like it's going to be dry through the midnight hour. and the ten-day forecast shows the above normal temperatures for several days. average high is 43 this time of the year. some more light showers on tuesday, but the mildest day of all, more showers on thursday. and then the wind starts bringing in the really cold air for new year's weekend. but not as brutal as it was a week ago. we'll be right back.

>> announcer: nbc10 breaking news. we have an update on our breaking news. we've learned what is causing that strange smell in center city that we told you about at the top of this newscast. a philadelphia police source is telling nbc10 that too much of a

sulfur additive was added to natural gas at a south philly plant. they say the plume moved northward, and they say it's not dangerous. but the philadelphia fire department did respond to several calls of people becoming sick in center city. once again, too much of an additive is the problem that caused that smell in center city. to a nativity scene that lit up the night in old city tonight. st. peter's episcopal church started a new event this year. it's called lights of christmas. it's a free outdoor show that includes a nativity scene that uses more than 2,000 lights. those lights are synchronized to some of the most popular christmas songs. the show will run until december 31st. and tonight more than 100 kids in north philadelphia got gifts and something to help them through winter. a christmas coat and toy drive at the saint barnabas mission. it was put on with the help of cleveland browns player and philly native ibrahim campbell. this was the third year of the event. sports is next. walked around the shelter,

no intention of adopting. he was the very last kennel in the very last row. emaciated. he was skin and bones. usually what you see in neglected dogs. it was one of those complete, meant-to-be moments... i totally fell in love with him. (avo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped the aspca save nearly thirty thousand animals so far. get a new subaru, and we'll donate another two hundred and fifty dollars to help those in need. ♪put a little love in your heart.♪

desk, brought to you by xfinity. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. hey, i'm danny pommells. the sincers were short a big man as they kicked off a four game road trip in phoenix but not the one you're thinking of or the other one or the other one. richaun holmes out with a concussion. good hustle for the sixers in this one. joel embiid making a habit of that as he visits the fans once again. he was okay, though. then t.j. mcconnell with a steal and save to ilyasova. this is him draining the three. sixers doing their thing early on. more embiid, the block and one. leads to serge row rodriguez triple on the other end.

sixers let it spllip away after intermission. bledsoe hits a jumper. they lead 116-104 in the fourth quarter. the eagles are off for a few days after last night's win over the giant. they'll be missing a key piece for their season finale. brian matthews suffered a herniated disc in his neck in this run near the goal line. he'll need surgery to repair it. pederson was asked to evaluate matthews' season. >> got off to a good start, and then there was a little bit of a lull in the middle, and he's finished up strong. that's kind of been the nature of the season for him. these last couple of weeks he's been our work horse at the running back position and did some really good things for us. this obviously is unfortunate now that he can't finish the season for us. lots of eagles fans wondering what this was about. carson went blocking on the reverse shortly after being cleared of a concussion. pederson defended the call at today's press conference.

>> we can speculate all day, i guess. you know, obviously our goal in everything we do is try to win a football game. and, you know, i think the second that you sort of hesitate in any situation is the time you get beat. and, again, i had no hesitation on making that play and putting him in that situation. >> eagles-cowboys next sunday at the linc. that is your look at sports. i'm danny pommells, csn. we'll be right back.

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final look at weather. those winds carrying that sulfur

smell now to other areas we understand. >> right. that's how it got into center city. philadelphia is in the middle of the screen. you can see the wind arrows carrying it to lower bucks and then eventually to mercer county and then eventually up to new york city but it tends to disperse. the rain is also going to take care of that in the morning, so there are not going to be any problems with that. you can see a very large area of rain in ohio and kentucky moving this way. so it's definitely going to be raining as we start the weekend. >> but not a weekend washout. >> absolutely not. the afternoon's going to be nice tomorrow. >> all right. that's nbc10 news at 11:00. thanks for watching. have a great holiday weekend. good night. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- adam driver. rhett and link. musical guest r. kelly.